Tori Amos

November 21st QPAC.

Words:  Craig L Thomson.

Tonight at QPAC The Lion King is playing in the Lyric theatre whilst Tori Amos is playing in the Concert Hall. The difference between the production that features Simba and his mates and Tori Amos couldn’t be starker. One is a massive production with a huge cast and the other is minimalist in the extreme.

Ms Amos performs her entire set solo straddling her piano stool, singing and playing a synthesiser and Bosendforfer piano often at the same time. Her emotive voice is crystal clear and she is a superb piano player.

The crowd enthusiastically greets the opening notes of Parasol and they maintain the enthusiasm for the entire show.  She endears herself to the audience even more by improvising a whole section of Josephine after forgetting the lyrics. The Allegro runs of God segue perfectly into short teases of Kate Bush’s Running up that Hill and Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which serve to show her skills as a musician as well as her influences.

Amos’s show has excellent lighting design and this is showcased to great effect during Suede and Mother.  However, it is a big task to maintain interest when there is only Piano and voice to focus on and the middle section of her set suffers from a lack of light and shade. Amos could have benefited from adding other musicians to the show to add contrast to the program, maybe a string quartet in a song or two or a bass player and drummer for some of the faster numbers. I appear to be alone in this opinion though, as by the time Cornflake Girl comes around the near capacity crowd is whistling and applauding and appear to have been totally enchanted by Amos’s solo performance tonight.